Type 2 diabetes, also referred to as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), afflicts between 80 and 90% of all diabetic patients in developed countries. In the United States alone, approximately 15 million people, and more than 100 million worldwide, are affected. Because this disorder is a late onset disease and occurs often in overweight persons it can be expected that the number of patients suffering from this disease will increase further. Patients suffering from type 2 diabetes usually still produce insulin but become increasingly resistant to their own insulin and to insulin therapy. A promising new class of drugs has been recently introduced that resensitizes patients to their own insulin (insulin sensitizers), thereby reducing blood glucose and triglyceride levels, and thus abolishing, or at least reducing, the requirement for exogenous insulin. Troglitazone (Resulin(trademark)) and rosiglitazone (Avandia(trademark)) belong to the thiazolidinediones (TZD) class of chemicals, and are the first representatives of this class of chemicals approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the United States and several other countries. These compounds, however, have side effects including rare but severe liver toxicities (i.e., troglitazone) and they can increase body weight in humans. Such side effects are of major concern for patients who might require treatment for a decade or longer. Therefore, new and better drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and related disorders are needed. New heterocyclic derivatives that are useful, for example, to modulate metabolism (such as, for example, lipid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism) or adipocyte differentiation, and especically to treat type 2 diabetes and other diseases are disclosed.
The present invention relates to certain substituted heterocycles which are useful in the treatment of diseases related to lipid metabolism and adipocyte differentiation, such as type 2 diabetes; uncontrolled proliferation, such as lymphoma, Hodgkin""s Disease, leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, or cancers in general; and inflammation, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn""s Disease, or Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Some disclosed embodiments of the invention relate to compounds of the Formula (I): 
wherein:
n and m are independently 0 or 1;
R1 and R2 are 1) independently or together hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, alkoxy, substituted alkoxy, hydroxyl, acyl, amino, mono-substituted amino, di-substituted amino, carboxy, carboalkoxy, alkylcarboxamide, substituted alkylcarboxamide, dialkylcarboxamide, substituted dialkylcarboxamide or haloalkoxy; or 2) R1 and R2 together with the aromatic ring bonded thereto form a cycloalkyl, substituted cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl or substituted cycloalkenyl residue that may optionally comprise 1 or 2 heteroatoms selected from O, S, NH or N-alkyl;
R3 and R4 are independently or together hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, halogen, cyano, nitro, hydroxyl, acyloxy, amino, mono-substituted amino, di-substituted amino, alkylsulfonamide, arylsulfonamide, alkylurea, arylurea, alkylcarbamate, arylcarbamate, heteroaryl, alkoxy, substituted alkoxy, haloalkoxy, thioalkyl, thiohaloalkyl, carboxy, carboalkoxy, alkylcarboxamide, substituted alkylcarboxamide, dialkylcarboxamide or substituted dialkylcarboxamide;
A is xe2x80x94CR6R7xe2x80x94 where R6 and R7 are independently or together hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkoxy, substituted alkoxy or haloalkoxy; or R6 and R7 together form a cycloalkyl residue that may optionally comprise 1 or 2 heteroatoms selected from O, S, NH and N-alkyl;
Ar is Formula (II), (III), (IV) or (V): 
where R8, R9 and R10 are independently or together hydrogen, alkyl, substituted alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, halogen, cyano, nitro, hydroxyl, acyloxy, amino, mono-substituted amino, di-substituted amino, alkylamide, alkylsulfonamide, arylsulfonamide, alkylurea, arylurea, alkylcarbamate, arylcarbamate, alkoxy, substituted alkoxy, haloalkoxy, thioalkyl, thiohaloalkyl, carboxy, carboalkoxy, alkylcarboxamide, substituted alkylcarboxamide, dialkylcarboxamide or substituted dialkylcarboxamide;
R5 is hydrogen, halogen, hydroxy, alkyl or substituted alkyl;
--- represents a bond present or absent; and
W, X, Y and Z are independently or together xe2x80x94C(O)xe2x80x94, xe2x80x94C(S)xe2x80x94, xe2x80x94Sxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94 or xe2x80x94NH-residues that together form a 2,4-thiazolidinedione, 2-thioxo-4-thiazolidinedione, isoxazolidinedione, 2,4-imidazolidinedione or 2-thioxo-4-imidazolidinedione residue; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
Other embodiments of the invention provide methods of synthesizing the compounds of the invention.
In another aspect, this invention relates to the use of the compounds disclosed herein for modulating lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, or adipocyte differentiation; they are also useful for treating diseases of uncontrolled cellular proliferation; and the treatment inflammatory diseases.
This invention also relates to a method for modulating lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism or adipocyte differentiation comprising administering to a mammal, preferably a human, diagnosed as needing such modulation, such as for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The invention also provides for a method of treatment of a disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation comprising administering to a mammal diagnosed as having a disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation and a method of treating an inflammatory disease comprising administering to a mammal diagnosed as having an inflammatory disease.
In another aspect, this invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound disclosed herein in admixture with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients.